Parklane is ‘Fully Endorsed' by the SAFE Agent scheme

SAFE – an acronym for ‘Safe Agent Fully Endorsed’ - is a voluntary kitemark denoting firms that protect landlords and tenants’ money through client money protection schemes. The scheme is an industry initiative aimed at raising standards in the private rented sector.

SAFE Agent status reassures landlords and tenants that their money is kept completely separate from the operating funds of the agent, keeping income and deposits safe. In addition to Government support for the scheme, key organizations in the industry including, National Union of Students, Which?, Citizens Advice Bureau, Shelter, Crisis, The Property Ombudsman, Consumer Focus, OFT, GLA and Trading Standards Institute have all allied themselves to the scheme.

Things To Consider Before You Buy Home Insurance

When first delving into the market for home insurance, it is essential that homeowners are made aware of the rules and regulations of policies as well as the more effective deals to look out for.

To help introduce you to buying smart in your insurance search, we’ve put together a list of 11 must-knows about the market.

Do you need buildings insurance?

Within most households, buildings insurance is compulsory. The policies will give you cover if the worst were to happen, and will provide protection of rebuilding costs.

However, if you are renting or own a home on a leasehold basis, it is often the responsibility of your property management company to hold buildings or landlord insurance – to be sure, check with your provider.

Covering contents costs

Both homeowners and tenants are advised to hold contents insurance for a property, and making sure all valuables are covered is essential.

The Association of British Insurers valued the average family homes content costs at £55,000, however to predict your own specific estimate, you can use many online contents calculators.

Affordable excess

Ensuring that your insurance excess is smart and affordable can be crucial in establishing an effective policy with your supplier.

Often setting your excess higher can knock large sums of your premium, however this means claiming for low amounts on your property insurance can increase the cost in the future – so think smart when setting an excess.

Buying building and content insurance in bulk

When taking out home insurance quotes, it is often more financially rewarding to combine the purchases of home and contents insurance from the same supplier.

This can lead to annual savings of around up to 20%, meaning you could opt for a higher premium policy to suit your financial status.

Away from home cover

Covering the cost of household items is important, yet insuring those same items away from your home can sometimes be more crucial.

Although these policies usually come as add-ons to your cost, they can protect valuable devices such as mobile phones and laptops for you and your children on a daily basis.

Covering your external space

Buildings and content insurance usually covers a homeowner’s outside buildings, however it is worth double-checking that they protect the value of items stored.

Many companies set a limit of how much you can claim for the loss of valuables from garages - so make sure they are fully aware of your possessions when setting up a policy.

Building up a No Claims Home Insurance Discount

Similar to that of car insurance policies, property insurance offers savings for customers with No Claims Discount (NCDs).

These are also transferrable from provider to provider, so don’t feel the need to stick to one supplier in the fear of losing any No Claims Discounts.

Premium payments

Typically speaking, most homeowners pay a monthly bill for their building and contents insurance over the course of a years’ policy term.

However, with many home insurance quotes, customers can save as much as 30% each year by paying one lump sum figure when initially renewing their quote.

Looking beyond comparison sites for home insurance

If you’re looking for cheap home insurance, you may need to look beyond comparison sites such as uSwitch and begin to contact insurance companies directly.

This will not only allow you to compare their prices directly against the cheapest policies online, but provide you with a more detailed itinerary of a home insurance quote.

Knowing your rebuild costs

Estimating the rebuild cost of your home can prove a difficult task, and many consumers are unaware of the fact that it only covers your bricks and mortar.

Rebuild costs do not cover the cost of the land your home sits on, therefore it is usually lower than the market value – to calculate your costs visit ABI.

What is Accidental damage and what does it cover?

Most home insurance quotes cover accidental damage under their basic policies, although checking the value of these costs is important.

Companies will offer premium rates to higher your accidental damage limit, but watch out for some exclusions such as cleaning as they are often left out of your policy details.